A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction

Patrick J. Kennedy, the former congressman and youngest child of Senator Ted Kennedy, details his personal and political battles with mental illness and addiction, exploring mental health care's history in the country alongside his and every family's private struggles.

Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon

History remembers Robert F. Kennedy as a racial healer, a tribune for the poor, and the last progressive knight of a bygone era of American politics. But Kennedy's enshrinement in the liberal pantheon was actually the final stage of a journey that had its beginnings in the conservative 1950s. In Bobby Kennedy, Larry Tye peels away layers of myth and misconception to paint a complete portrait of this singularly fascinating figure.

Rosemary says:"For 11 brief shining hours Larry Tye brings RFK back to life with all warts and promise"

The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America’s Most Public Family

The Kennedy wives saw history up close - and made history in some cases. They knew wealth and privilege, but we are bonded to them by losses that are our losses, too. The Kennedy women - fierce, intelligent, and very private - belong to us. Not because of their glamour but because of their grief and misfortunes. The Kennedy Wives takes an unflinching look at the women who married into the Kennedy family and their distinct roles.

Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

Joe and Rose Kennedy's strikingly beautiful daughter, Rosemary, attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet Rosemary was intellectually disabled - a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family.

The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy

In this evocative and affectionate memoir, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy, offers an intimate and illuminating look at a time long ago when she and her siblings, guided by their parents, laughed and learned a great deal under one roof.

After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family - 1968 to the Present

For more than half a century, Americans have been captivated by the Kennedys - their joy and heartbreak, tragedy and triumph, the dark side and the remarkable achievements. In this ambitious and sweeping account, Taraborrelli continues the family chronicle begun with his best-selling Jackie, Ethel, Joan and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the years "after Camelot."

Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations

In his most ambitious work to date, Thomas L. Friedman shows that we have entered an age of dizzying acceleration - and explains how to live in it. Due to an exponential increase in computing power, climbers atop Mount Everest enjoy excellent cell phone service, and self-driving cars are taking to the roads. A parallel explosion of economic interdependency has created new riches as well as spiraling debt burdens.

My Own Words

The first book from Ruth Bader Ginsburg since becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1993 - a witty, engaging, serious, and playful collection of writings and speeches from the woman who has had a powerful and enduring influence on law, women's rights, and popular culture. My Own Words is a selection of writings and speeches by Justice Ginsburg on wide-ranging topics, including gender equality, the workways of the Supreme Court, being Jewish, law and lawyers in opera, and more.

Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch

In her compelling and intimate portrait, presidential historian Barbara A. Perry captures Rose Kennedy’s essential contributions to the incomparable Kennedy dynasty. This biography - the first to draw on an invaluable cache of Rose’s newly released diaries and letters - unearths the complexities behind the impeccable persona she showed the world. The woman who emerges is a fascinating character: savvy about her family’s reputation and resilient enough to persevere through the unfathomable tragedies that befell her.

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

Joseph Patrick Kennedy - whose life spanned the First World War, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the Cold War - was the patriarch of America’s greatest political dynasty. The father of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy, 'Joe' Kennedy was an indomitable and elusive figure whose dreams of advancement for his nine children were matched only by his extraordinary personal ambition and shrewd financial skills.

The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women

Throughout her childhood, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff frequently visited Rosemary Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy's sister. Why? Koehler-Pentacoff's aunt, Sister Paulus Koehler, a Franciscan nun, was Rosemary's devoted caregiver at St. Coletta in Jefferson, Wisconsin, for 15 years and her driver and travel companion for over 30.

Lauren says:"Not really about Rosemary, but about the nun and her family."

Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power

Trump Revealed offers the most thorough and wide-ranging examination of Donald Trump's public and private lives to date, from his upbringing in Queens and formative years at the New York Military Academy to his turbulent careers in real estate and entertainment to his astonishing rise as the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination. The book will be based on the investigative reporting of more than two dozen Washington Post reporters and researchers.

Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history intimately and vividly to life as he reflects on his 17 years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, seeing them through a long, tumultuous era - the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard M. Nixon.

News of the World: A Novel

In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon

To have been alive during the last 60 years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s. On his own in the '70s, Simon made radio-dominating hits. He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park. Five years later Simon's album Graceland sold millions. And it doesn't stop there.

Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage

How did a disheveled, intellectually combative gay Jew with a thick New Jersey-Massachusetts accent become one of the most effective politicians of his time? In this candid and witty political memoir, Barney Frank relates his journey from the outskirts of New York City to Boston's City Hall and the Massachusetts legislature, and then to the US Congress, where he played a vital role in the struggle for personal freedom and economic fairness over four decades.

The Wonder

In Emma Donoghue's latest masterpiece, an English nurse brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle - a girl said to have survived without food for months - soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life.

The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.

Publisher's Summary

The youngest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, he came of age among siblings from whom much was expected. As a young man, he played a key role in the presidential campaign of his brother John F. Kennedy, recounted here in loving detail. In 1962 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he began a fascinating political education and became a legislator.

In this historic memoir, the late Ted Kennedy takes us inside his family, re-creating life with his parents and brothers and explaining their profound impact on him. For the first time, he describes his heartbreak and years of struggle in the wake of their deaths. Through it all, he describes his work in the Senate on the major issues of our time - civil rights, Vietnam, Watergate, the quest for peace in Northern Ireland - and the cause of his life: improved health care for all Americans, a fight influenced by his own experiences in hospitals.

His life was marked by tragedy and perseverance, a love of family, and an abiding faith. There have been controversies, too, and Kennedy addresses them with unprecedented candor.

At midlife, embattled and uncertain if he would ever fall in love again, he met the woman who changed his life, Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Facing a tough reelection campaign against an aggressive challenger named Mitt Romney, Kennedy found a new voice and began one of the great third acts in American politics, sponsoring major legislation, standing up for liberal principles, and making the pivotal endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

Hundreds of books have been written about the Kennedys. True Compass will endure as the definitive account from a member of America's most heralded family, an inspiring legacy to listeners and to history, and a deeply moving story of a life like no other.

The story of Ted Kennedy's life is, in so many ways, the story of us all. Not in the details and personal reflections but in the ways in which his family and his personality shaped and was shaped by the critical events of the last century.

When I began "True Compass" I knew I would enjoy it but I had no idea how compelling a story it would be. At nineteen hours the unabridged version still seems short!

Kennedy told his story in a simple, accessible style that was clearly from his heart. He didn't try to psychoanalyze himself or his family, it's wasn't his style. Instead he simply related the amazing accounts of his life in a way that invites the reader to listen and understand. His story allows us to not only understand more fully the makeup of the Kennedy Clan and the dynamics which shaped their activities in both the civic arena and their private lives, we see through his own eyes the struggles that came with the Kennedy legacy.

Reading Ted Kennedy's story provides a new layer of understanding about many of the critical events of the 20th century. It is a story that reveals the way human agency is always at work to shape the world around us. Ultimately, then, with this new understanding, the astute reader should be inspired with a deeper understanding of the difference each of us can make in our world today.

Of course this is an audiobook and regardless of the quality of the story, the reader must communicate with humanity and clarity, and in this task John Lloyd excels. There are times when I had to remind myself that this wasn't HIS story, the expressiveness of his narration was so powerful.

This is a story that definitely deserves the time to be read, cover to cover. But it is also a story that takes on a new life when you HEAR it read and experience the richness of who Ted Kennedy was in this intimate, personal way.

A wonderful book about a life full of the wonders of our history; a life that was fully dedicated to the most wonderful country God could imagine. I had the privilege of working with him and Ted Jr. as we sought to secure equal access to the American dream or all Americans. Then and now and always, I will count him amongst the greatest of America's sons.

I found this audio book truly engaging. It is narrated beautifully with humor and warmth throughout. I recommend this book, not only as a good, entertaining read, but also as an entertaining perspective and glimpse into US politics.

I wasn`t planning to but bought this book based on an earlier review in Audio. What I found satisfying was Kennedy`s focus on family and faith in dealing with grief and loss. This reoccuring theme can`t help but resonate with any reader`s issues as well as the question of the afterlife - Kennedy convincingly affirms his belief in eternal life and this was very reassuring and surprisingly moving. Whatever our views about him personally and/or as a politician/public figure - thought the book did a good job in hitting some of messy parts about being human and imperfection. His interactions with his siblings and parents and the family culture with regard to what is open for discussion what isn`t aren`t particularly unique but insightful and can cause reflection in readers. In a weird way it makes the reader more forgiving of the failings of others. I enjoyed the book and others who are NOT looking for gossip and scandal will too. Lastly Kennedy`s frequent focus on sailing struck a chord with regard to how important it is to have a place to go so to speak when things get tough - a good reminder to all.

Starts off really good, but loses steam. The first section of the book sounds a lot like your grandfather telling you stories of his life that carry lifelong lessons.

Much of the rest of the book is about his political career. While I understand that he was a politician and thus politics played a large role in his life, it read more like an encyclopedic recounting of his career and lacked much of the insight to his inner struggles and family life that I was expecting to find.

Also, the latter chapters of the book suffer because he rushed to complete the book as his health declined, so everything from 1998 onward is set in a rough sketch (he covered the death of 4 important people, including Jackie O, in about 3 pages). All in all, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars but would still give it a spot on my "recommended" list.

First let me say, I am a Republican. I was interested to hear Kennedy's views of historical events in which he was so closely involved. This book did not disappoint, even as his political views were quite irritating to me. I found his inside "scoop" on the different presidents enlightening, although they are quite liberally skewed (as you might expect). The narrator was wonderful. He spoke so naturally, I kept thinking it was Kennedy speaking, then I would realize it was not.

This book reveals the Kennedy family as an all-American "family" involved in the political history of the world for once, and not as they have always been portrayed, "politicians" that happened to be family. Incredible story that will make you laugh and cry, feel proud and angry, sad and inspired, all at the same time. All Americans should be proud of having such a family as part of our culture and their legacy as part of our history.

A timely look into the life of a devoted, respected and often misunderstood Senator, politician, Father, Husband, Uncle, Brother and Son. I was engrossed through the entire listen. This book serves as a terrific study in modern American politics from 1930 to the present. His final chapters on his feelings about the Senate are thoughtful and engaging.